Water Wise Coffee

Water Wise Coffee

Solving wet mill river pollution

KEY MESSAGES

- Description: Project to prevent wet mills, required to process coffee, from discharging waste water and organic coffee skins into the local rivers. The project improves river water quality, essential for the local communities for washing, watering livestock and even drinking.- Specificity: Separation of coffee skins for composting and use of Vetiver wetlands to filter processing waste water and prevent contamination of the river.- Impact: Improvement of standards of living for all people living near water courses

FUNCTIONING

SEVERAL WET MILL TRANSFORMATION STEPS:Technical support to the wet mills to reduce and track water use

Creation of Vetiver wetland for waste water management

Composting of coffee skins to return to farmers

Monitoring of rivers to assess impact on water quality

"I have always feared the harvest season due to the bad smells produced by pollution. Since we use Vetiver systems, I use river water again to wash. It has stopped pollution."
Ethiopian producer

Zoom on wet mills: coffee washing essential for high quality coffee
> Clean water enables improvement of coffee quality and thus producers' income
> Improved community relations for the wet mills and less likelihood of wet mill closures by government .

SCOPE

SIDAMA, ETHIOPIA480 000 people positively impacted by the program

BUDGET

$ 300 K/year since 2012

IMPACTS

Agricultural productivity
71 wet mills enrolled

Climate change
Reduced water use and river pollution

Sustainable dev. goals
Over 35 000 m3 of water filtered each season

NEXT STEPS

Extend the program to new districts in Ethiopia

Projects

The Adaptation of African Agriculture to Climate Change (AAA) is already underway! Find out about the concrete and innovative projects undertaken by agri-makers across the African continent.